The Story of Kelxfy by Kelx
Everyone has their story right? In this article, I write about Kelxfy journey story, lessons and experiences learned along the way.
My passion for blogging and content creation started way back in 2018 when I used to transcribe and publish lyrics on my YouTube channel. In December 2018, I joined Afrika Lyrics as a content manager and helped transcribe and publish most African songs in Swahili and English. I used to work as a freelance graphic designer, and at night I used to transcribe lyrics.
In this article, I will show you how I established Kelxfy, and how working with Afrika Lyrics helped me establish Kelxfy.
My Journey: How it all Started
When I came to Nairobi to study in 2010, I used to love the graphics that I saw on Matatus. This is where my interest in graphic design started, by the way. I loved how colorful the city looked. This was my first time in the capital city of Kenya.
Growing up in a rural area never gave me the opportunity to see this. I was happy that I finally came to the city. At that time, I was naive and wanted to explore all the possible outcomes in the city. I never knew my fate or where I would be in the next 10 years.
I finished high school, went to university, and then started hustling. In 2018, I graduated from Kenyatta University with a Diploma in Information Technology. At this time, I had worked all the menial jobs I could find in order to facilitate my day-to-day activities as a young man.
My passion for computers started way back in high school when I was one of the best students in my class. I taught myself how to code, design, and even blog while at the University.
Working Online
After purchasing my first laptop, I promised myself that I would use it to better my life. I started working online in 2017, when I bought my first laptop through savings. I used to access the library’s wifi to research and study. I googled how to make an income online as a beginner, and what interested me was to blog. (I joined Blogger on March 2017, by the way, as you can see my blogger profile here)
I wanted to become a programmer also, but I had limited resources back then, so I opted to teach myself graphic design. (To date, I still want to be a programmer; recently, I enrolled at ALX Africa to study software engineering/later I dropped to focus on Kelxfy)
My passion for digital marketing started when I used to work for a graphic design agency as an intern. Here, I created my first blog. Back then, I used Blogger to publish some blogs for Green Editors (actually, I learned professional graphic design from here). I will be forever grateful for the opportunity I was given.
Then I went ahead and started my first blog on WordPress, called Kelx Graphics. You can read the first post that I published on May 27 here. By the way, I got the name Kelx from one of my friends. When we used to play Need for Speed in the Computer lab, (There is that name you save a player with.) I used to listen to music a lot; I’ve loved hip-hop since high school. I was blogging about my lifestyle, and looking back, I could say this is where my passion for blogging started.
Also in 2018, I discovered that I wanted to build a brand for myself. I wanted to help other people discover trending updates and new music. I loved entertainment so much (Back at university, I used to download music videos and would listen to songs when I headed back home). It was so much fun. As you can see from my blog, I used to create lyrical videos. But unfortunately, I lost that channel due to copyright issues.
Passion for Blogs
In my first blogs at Blogger and WordPress, I used to promote my work, especially the lyrical videos that I used to create on YouTube. I continued transcribing the Lyrics and had a lot of them. My channel grew to be one of the best lyrical channels in Kenya.
I wanted somewhere to share my knowledge. I tried finding blogs that were documenting music and sharing lyrical content. At that time, I had two options: one was Afrika Lyrics, and the other was Tina Magazine. These were the top websites back then. This is when I met Afrika Lyrics and agreed to work on publishing some of my work here.
Afrika Lyrics
Afrika Lyrics offered me a platform that I could use to share my knowledge. We agreed on some terms, and I would start working here as a freelance content manager in December 2018. At this time, Afrika Lyrics had just begun documenting African Lyrics in 2017. Actually, the site was still performing well, but I wanted to grow it to become even bigger.
Here, I would share some work that I had done and also transcribe new lyrics from all over Africa. I would take over the site operations and work with my team to make sure the site is updated frequently with new content.
At this time, Kenyan music was booming, and not so many people knew about the new genre called Gengetone, I would come in handy and give knowledge to many who wanted to learn the lyrics of their favorite artists. We would strategize and work on both old and new songs. I used to transcribe more than 100 songs per month. As you can see from the Excel sheet screenshot below.
Projects I used to work on
Documenting and working professionally at Afrika Lyrics helped me a lot in learning how to publish digital content. I learned how to run a successful online business and increased my knowledge and research skills. To date, I feel that I have done so much work, and sharing with passion helped me come up with my first website in 2019 called kelxinnovations.com.
At Kelx Innovations, I used to document my journey, share knowledge with the music community, and also become a responsible blogger. If you can scroll to the last page of kelxfy.com, you will notice that the first posts were imported from my first website. I learned to write about my personal experience, share first-hand information, and understand the importance of writing helpful content for people.
My work at Afrika Lyrics also helped me learn more about SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I learned how Google search engines work, how to start a blog, and even how to monetize my work. Blogging has been my passion since then.
Update: I officially left Afrika Lyrics on March 20, 2022, to concentrate on Kelxfy.com. At the time I was leaving, I had published more than 10,000 lyrics on the site and grew the site to more than 300,000 monthly visits.
Starting Kelxfy
Kelxfy is a result of hard work, persistence, trial, and error, and even passion. Kelxfy is my personal project; that’s why I called it that way. My first website was called Kelxinnovations.com. I started the website in October 2019, and I retired it in October 2021. At this time, I was tired of hosting locally. There were many challenges to hosting locally, such as; downtimes, limited professional customer service support, and more.
After consulting with my then-manager, she recommended that I try IONOS, since then I have never looked back.
Establishing Kelxfy.com
I looked for domain names, and many had been taken, so I came up with the unique domain name Kelxfy. The criteria I was using to look for a domain name was a name that never existed on the internet. Also, I wanted a custom name that would be unique on all social media platforms. After thorough research (by the way, I am a pro at researching), I came up with an Idea. So I called the company Kelxfy, which means Kelx for you.
I wanted this website to be different, unique and to be my future company. I wanted to be an online digital entrepreneur and also have a brand name that I would use to showcase my work. You see, at the time I was transcribing lyrics, I never had a brand, so many people would never know the person behind the lyrical videos I used to share.
I wanted a brand name that would be trusted by many and that would reflect my passion for sharing knowledge, educating, and showcasing my skills. And that’s how Kelxfy came into existence.
The Story of Kelxfy by Kelx
Creating Kelxfy the Brand
As mentioned above, I am a self-taught Graphic designer, and branding is one of the things I enjoy doing. In my research, I got so many ideas along the way. I was inspired by new modern designs.
I wanted Kelxfy to be modern, which is why I designed it that way, as documented in my Kelx Graphics Behance portfolio. The Kelxfy logo comprises two K’s facing each other, taken from my name, Kelvin Kinuthia. That’s why Kelxfy is so special to me.
The main reason I established Kelxfy was to offer customized digital solutions to my audience. I started creating in 2018, and I believe the knowledge and skills I have acquired along the way as a creative are important and will help businesses scale. As I have highlighted in one blog post called Kelxfy digital solutions.
As Kelxfy continues to grow, I have partnered with various stakeholders to make Kelxfy the premier online digital resource. Our tagline, “Your go-to source for all things digital,” talks more about what Kelxfy is trying to achieve.
Update: Kelxfy has more than 50, 000 monthly visits, and I continue to publish more blog posts and articles. My goal is to grow Kelxfy to a traffic level of more than 1 million monthly visits. We are working hard with my team to publish quality content frequently.
Conclusion
Along the way, I have learned the power of collaboration and teamwork. Collaborating with Afrika Lyrics gave me the in-demand skills, the confidence, and the power to build my new startup, Kelxfy. Afrika Lyrics gave me a platform to be me and a platform to express myself through service to others.
I have learned why it is important to create meaningful and helpful content. I have learned SEO skills, writing skills, and why being authentic and original is important. Kelxfy has opened many opportunities for me, and I now have a platform to showcase my skills, knowledge, and expertise. I will be forever grateful to the Afrika Lyrics team for the love and support they gave me. If it were not for the digital skills I learned at Afrika Lyrics, Kelxfy would not have been born.